The Bird Collection

The collection of birds at UMass, originally started in the early 1950's by Lawrence Bartlett, presently features about 4500 catalogued specimens.  Over two-thirds of catalogued specimens are from the US, and the vast majority of these from the North East.  Approximately half of all of our catalogued specimens were collected locally in Massachusetts.

Highlights from our international collections include specimens collected from the Panama Canal zone (Gordon Field collections) and the Phillipines (E.E. Macatiguib collections).  The majority of our specimens are skins with or without skeletal material.  We also have an additional 1000 skeletal or skull-only specimens.  Our collection also includes about 325 taxidermic mounts, about ~40 nests with eggs, and a diversity of eggs. 

Curator: Jeff Podos